Category: Uncategorized

The invisible, insidious presence of heavy metals

I spent the last two weeks in Spain, combining business with pleasure.  It’s interesting when something that starts out as part of the pleasure ends up being business instead.


Charlotte translated this sign for me – it’s historical information. Note the brightly colored mine tailings in the background.

My daughter is teaching English in Mazarrón, a small town in the province of Murcia. The climate there is very similar to southern California, though drier and not as warm: it’s pretty much a scrubland ecosystem.… Continue reading this article “The invisible, insidious presence of heavy metals”

WARNING: This post contains graphic content

As many of you know, numerous homeowners and golf courses in the Midwest experienced substantial damage to trees, especially conifers as a result of application of Imprelis, a new turf herbicide that was released by DuPont in fall 2010.   If you do a google image search for ‘Imprelis’ you can see lots of photos of the typical damage we observed in summer 2011, when most Imprelis damage became apparent.  The usual symptom of Imprelis exposure were brown, twisted and stunted shoots or trees killed outright.… Continue reading this article “WARNING: This post contains graphic content”

Master Gardener Researchers Rule!

The Garden Professors test new products all the time.  Fertilizers, pesticides, tree wraps,compost tea, etc., they’ve all found their way into our fields and greenhouses at one time or another, but still, we can’t test everything, it’s just not possible. New stuff comes out all the time, and it’s impossible to keep up, so one of the things we love to see is people who take the initiative to test things themselves. Recently we got to see the results from a group of Master Gardeners who tested biochar on growing vegetables.   … Continue reading this article “Master Gardener Researchers Rule!”

Long winter proves that climate change is a hoax

Just looked at the forecast for the week – Thursday’s forecast high temperature is 32 deg. F.  This is a far cry from last year’s record-shattering 86 on the same date.  Clearly all this blabbering about climate change is just a bunch of hysterical nonsense.

As sportscaster Lee Corso would say, “Not so fast, my friend…”  While winter 2013 can’t compete with winter 2012 in terms of record-breaking warmth, this winter has continued a trend which may have profound implications for landscape and garden plant selections.… Continue reading this article “Long winter proves that climate change is a hoax”

Must we continue to bring in exotics?

A couple weeks back I posted about a collaborative research project that I am involved with to identify seed sources of two Mediterranean fir species (Turkish fir and Trojan fir) for use as Christmas trees in various locations around the country.   The post prompted a question from Monta Zengerle who asked, “Must we continue to bring in exotics to satisfy the nursery trade?”  Since our intended purpose is Christmas trees and people move plants around the world for purposes other than nursery stock, I’ve broadened the question to “Must we continue to bring in exotics?”… Continue reading this article “Must we continue to bring in exotics?”

Rime and Reason

This weekend I got to take a leisurely drive to the northern end of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula with my daughter so she could check out Michigan Tech University.  Lots to see along the 488 mile drive from DeWitt to Houghton, including a moose, lots of snowmobiles, and the world famous ‘Yooper tourist trap’.  (For the uninitiated, people that live in the U.P. are known as Yooper’s, while those of us that live beneath the Mackinac Bridge are known as ‘Trolls’)  Once we got along the Lake Superior side of the U.P.… Continue reading this article “Rime and Reason”

Good Stuff

Boy oh boy, what a fun day!  People yelling at me from the left and from the right.  But hey, I didn’t start doing what I do to make everyone happy.  With that said….Nah, I don’t feel like attacking anyone today.  Instead, let’s look at a good renewable fertilizer: Cotton seed meal.  It’s got a reasonably good ratio of nitrogen to phosphorus and potassium — slow release of course.  Basically a waste product given a meaningful purpose. … Continue reading this article “Good Stuff”

Living with lichens

 

We often hear that the US needs to boost its investment in science education to keep up with rest of the world.  While we often think in terms of physics and chemistry when we think of science, we need to remember biology and ecology fit in the mix, too.

 

I bring this up because of a call a received a while back from a homeowner.  The gentleman was concerned /borderline distraught that he would have to remove a prized maple tree from his front yard because it had “peculiar growths all over the trunk”.  … Continue reading this article “Living with lichens”

Thomas Knight and the Water Wheel

Classes have begun, and this semester (and every spring semester) I have the opportunity to teach our introduction to horticulture class, otherwise known as Plant Propagation (Hort 1001).  We usually have about 120 students, and I don’t want to brag or anything, but it is just about the best class out there.  Watching the students learn about seeds, cuttings, and grafting in the labs is one of the most motivating things about my job (and it doesn’t hurt that the greenhouses are about 70 degrees while it’s 0 outside). … Continue reading this article “Thomas Knight and the Water Wheel”

Pussy Riot: How far should we go to eliminate destructive alien species?

A short article in our Sunday paper caught my eye this weekend.  New Zealand economist Gareth Morris has launched a campaign to eliminate domestic cats from the country in order to preserve native bird populations.  According to Morris and his supporters, cats represent a serious threat to many rare and endangered bird species in New Zealand, which has the highest rate of cat ownership in the world.  Ironically, one of the reasons the article our paper caught my eye is I have been considering adopting a feral cat from a local program to control mice in our barn.… Continue reading this article “Pussy Riot: How far should we go to eliminate destructive alien species?”